On with the blog!

My summer in the Belgian Ardennes was the first thing I wanted to post, but I have so many pictures and stuff I could write about that I simply don’t know where to start, so… nothing happens. And since I want to move on, I decided to skip it (or do a piece now and then, or… we’ll see) and carry on.

 

The last two days for example, were exceptionally warm for this time of the year (over 20° C),

so I spent my afternoons at the ‘Hawthorn’ club water, chasing rainbows.

 

And I caught very well on this type of streamer.

Just a little bit of flash, a rabbit strip zonker and a deer hair head with some dumbbell eyes in it.

I actually tied these streamers this summer for chub (with great success by the way). Here are a couple of nice ones.

But as I said before, the last two days, they worked very well on these kind of beauties.

 

Especially a black version.

Now that I have that whole ‘Belgian Ardennes’ thing out of my head, I’m able to move on, so from now on you can expect a lot more posts on a more frequent base again…

Perch/pikeperch flies

Yesterday I found this deer hair floating fry in a book. And of course, when I see ‘deer hair’, I have to give it a try. The pattern I found was designed for top water trout fishing (hook size 2-6). The ones I’ve maid are bigger than that, and I tend to fish them on a fast sinking line (Teeny TS-250), with a short leader to make them swim just above ground. And it is not trout, but perch and pikeperch that I’m after.

 

The first one, I used white marabou, and only white deer hair, which I coloured with a permanent marker. I like the result, and I will fish it, but why colour the hair when there are so many colours available.

 

 

 

So the next one, I used yellow marabou (two kinds of yellow, to get closer to the colour of the deer hair), and yellow and red deer hair.

These two flies (or fish), are tied on a Gamakatsu LS-5013F (Aberdeen), size 2/0, and are about 6 cm long.

 

 

Here, I used white, pink and red marabou and deer hair. This one is a bit bigger, tied on a 4/0 and about 8 cm long.

I will definitely tie more of these. It does take some work and time (and deer hair) to make them, but it’s really a lot of fun.

 

And this is what I’m after. I know it’s not a pike, but it is a beautiful fish!

 

(and putting a picture like this on your blog, makes you forget the ice for a moment)

Pike flies

I’ve been playing with deer hair again.

These two flies are about 22 cm long.

- first I tied in some gold flashabou

- then some orange Fine Hair around it

- five yellow grizzly schlappen feathers

- orange bucktail around the bottom of the hook shank, and black around the top

- two orange grizzly schlappen feathers

- black artic fox in a dubbing loop

- the head is yellow, orange and black deer hair

- first, some silver flashabou

- then some pink Fine Hair

around it

- five white grizzly schlappen feathers

- pink bucktail around the bottom of the hook shank, and black around the top

- two white grizzly schlappen feathers (but darker than the previous ones)

- white artic fox in a dubbing loop

- the head is pink, white and black deer hair with some homemade epoxy eyes

Pike flies

I had one of those moments that I needed to tie something with deer hair (that happens often). So I tied me some divers (or subbugs, or whatever you want to call them). Normally, when I tie these, I use a zonker strip for the tail, but today I tried something different.

                                                      

 

This is what I'm always looking out for.

After tying everything in, comes the moment of truth: ‘the haircut’. You can never be 100% sure of what you’re going to get.

These are tied on a Gamakatsu worm 36, size 6/0, and about 20 cm long.

I did this one first.

- I tied in some yellow Chinese cock saddles (next time I won’t, because they will not do the action any good).

- some yellow flashabou.

- then, yellow bucktail around the bottom of the hook shank, and black around the top.

- some yellow grizzly schlappen feathers.

- then I made a collar from black artic fox (in a dubbing loop).

- and the head is red, yellow and black deer hair, with some epoxy eyes.

Then I made this one.

I did use the saddles again but in a different way (for more movement).

- so first, chartreuse Chinese cock saddles.

- here I used chartreuse Krystal Flash instead, but less than the flashabou.

- chartreuse bucktail around the bottom of the hook shank, and black around the top.

- some white grizzly schlappen feathers.

- black artic fox.

- and the head is chartreuse, white and black deer hair.

 

I didn’t put any eyes on this one, because I kind of like it as it is.

Just for fun

For a long time, I’ve been wanting to make a mouse.

I don’t intend to fish with this one (although they do catch fish),

but it was fun making it.

 

I tied it on a Gamakatsu LS-5013F (Aberdeen), size 6/0.

It is about 6,5 cm long (without the tail of course).

 

All you need is an old shoelace, lots of deer hair, some old leather and eyes (these are self-made epoxy eyes).